Frenzy was angry. Well he was more than angry. He was a whole lot of emotions all bundled up together, seething in a cauldron of anxiety deep in his cosmetron. He couldn't identify most of the emotions he was feeling, and really didn't want to, so he just called it angry and stuck with that. Frenzy was itching to do what he most loved to do when he got angry, namely destroy stuff. He also loved to destroy stuff when he was happy, and when he was sad, and when he was excited. There wasn't a single emotion or event that Frenzy didn't try to turn into an excuse for destroying stuff.

He felt all his turning, twisting, jumbled up emotions being released, if only a little, as he connected his pile driver with the side of the building. The wood shattered satisfyingly, flinging harmless splinters of lighthouse all across Frenzy's chest. Inside he heard the fishermen and their families whimper in fear. He grinned and started hammering away at the stones forming the foundation.

He would be enjoying this so much more if he wasn't feeling so tired. Tired, and kinda sick. Oh well, he thought sarcastically, I won't be feeling this way much longer. What Frenzy wouldn't fess up to was the strange feeling that ending this strange feeling would feel stranger than continuing it. He felt frustration build up inside him again, and he hammered away even harder, relishing the terror he could hear from the people inside the building. They were powerless to stop him. He had, for this moment, complete control over their lives, and probably their deaths.

He knew he shouldn't be out here, alone, doing what he was doing. But he had to get out of Decepticon headquarters for a least a couple breems. The dark purple rooms and halls, with the weight of thousands of pounds of seawater pressing against every wall, had felt even more confining than usual. He had to enjoy his freedom and at least the semblance of normalcy, one more time before he let the lipole out of the cave. And he had to destroy something. Something big, and preferably valuable. So he'd snuck out of headquarters and attacked the first fleshling made thing he'd seen. This lighthouse. He knew he'd catch hell from Megatron for it later. But what was the big fragger gonna do to him that he hasn't done already?

He was almost through the wall and Frenzy could see the human's cowering inside, holding tight to each other. Frenzy chuckled and smashed into the room, toying with the idea of crushing the soft little insects under his pile-drivers.

One of the squishies, the tallest one there, brandished short metal stick thing. Trembling, the man shook it at the robot, his face red with a mix of rage and fear. "You touch my kids you metal freak, and I'll kill you!" He was standing firmer now, between Frenzy and his family. "Nobody touches my kids!" He shouted.

Something inside Frenzy snapped. With a roar the red and black Decepticon lifted one huge pile-driver, planning on crushing the protective father into a bloody pulp. "Yeah!" He sneered, "Well see who kills who, huh!" Suddenly Frenzy felt a large metal hand engulf his waist. He was lifted out of the lighthouse and off the ground. Struggling he turned to face his attacker. He stared into large blue optics which glared at him sternly. Choking down his fear, he let it be replaced with the more comfortable anger.

"I think that's quite enough." Optimus Prime said, his low voice both firm, and damn near condescending.

Frenzy was angry, and terrified. When an Autobot was farther away he made an easy target for Frenzy's earthquake powers. Even Optimus Prime had been toppled by the ground shaking pile driver attack more than once. And once a bot was down, then the real fun started. But this time Frenzy had been caught completely off guard, and there was little he could do in the huge Autobot's vise-like grip but panic, and lash out ineffectively.

My fraggin' gun's in my leg. Frenzy realized as he hammered away at Optimus' thick wrist, hoping to snag the edge of his driver against a delicate joint. "Leggo of me you big red retardicon." Frenzy shouted. Optimus only gripped him harder and shook him slightly, causing a wave of overwhelming nausea to wash over the small Decepticon.

"Looks like you're without backup." The damned Autobot mused in a self-satisfying way. "You should be more careful of where you choose to rain wanton destruction on." Frenzy only choked down a throatful of purge and slammed his weakening pile-drivers against the wrist. He was starting to feel faint, but he would be slagged if he didn't go down fighting. He heard a groan from Optimus as his pile driver connected with a sensitive junction, and he managed to wrestle his way out of the Prime's grip as it loosened.

Frenzy fell to the ground heavily, and staggered a few steps before attempting to ignite his thrusters, but the world was spinning around him too fast, and the diversion of energon from his vital systems to his legs made his whole chassis burn. Slaggin' Idiot…was all he was able to mutter at himself. Shoulda known, wouldn't be able to handle this…

A voice he couldn't identify close behind him sneered derisively, "Hey Prime! It looks like someone's had their wings clipped." The Decepticon cassette whirled around drunkenly swinging his pile driver's in the direction of the voice.

"Whoa," Tracks exclaimed, "Watch where you swing those things, you might have dented a fender."

Frenzy's engine was whining now, stuck between two gears and struggling from the missing energon that had been burned away in the Decepticon's failed escape attempt. Still he managed to mutter, "I'll dent more'an a fender you aft licker." Then he felt his legs begin to buckle under him, as his starved systems started pulling energy from the oil in his hydraulics. He fell to one knee, still punching at the air.

"Hmmm…you must have tired yourself out attacking defenseless fishermen." Tracks scoffed, taking a step closer. The Autobot car staggered a bit as Frenzy began striking out with his last strength at the ground around him, hoping in the haze before his processor shutdown that it would keep his opponent off balance. "Nighty night Deceptigoon." The pompous aft quipped. And then all Frenzy saw was blackness.

***

When he came back online the first thing his optic sensors registered in the dim light was a wall of orange metal above him. He didn't need to look to his right and left to see if the same orange metal made up the walls of his cell. He already fraggin knew that it did. Great, he thought to himself, just fraggin great. For a moment he tried to guess what Rumble or Soundwave would think, but he really had no idea. He felt the fear creeping back into his processor. He tried to get angry, hoping that would distract him from it all, but it only gave his databanks an overfried buzz. He heard a faint buzzing in his audials that was messing with the sensors in his recently refueled tanks, making him feel sick all over again. The slaggers fed me? He wondered, trying not to guess their reasons why. Finally he got up the strength to look around his prison. Frenzy was dismayed to see machines he faintly recognized next to him. Diagnostic machines. He sighed deeply, though the sulfurous tang in the air did little to clear his systems.

Whatever happens, he reassured himself, rather darkly, It doesn't matter, I don't care, and I'm gonna be as sarcastic as possible about it. He spent the next few breems thinking up sarcastic comments, which thankfully occupied nearly all of his processor space. Until he heard steps outside his cell, and was rather surprised when energy bars sparked to life in front of one orange wall, which then retracted, exposing the entire Cell like a pen in a zoo.

It was the big blue baboon of a leader and someone else, someone who's name didn't lend itself to being made fun of, so Frenzy had never bothered to remember it. But he did know that the boxy white Autobot was their medic. Dammit. Frenzy knew what was coming, and he drew on his massive storehouse of apathy to inoculate himself against it.

Prime watched the red and black Cassetticon carefully, years of studying the expressions of Autobots some of whose faces consisted of little more than an optic band and a mouth plate had trained him well. Though he couldn't be completely sure, he thought he saw the Decepticon withdraw from the situation, and the Autobot leader felt his spark go out to his enemy. He knew so little about this one, but youth was inscribed all over the smaller robot's face.

"You really shouldn't have come out of recharge yet." Optimus heard Ratchet remark. There was a snort from the figure lounging nonchalantly on the berth, back propped up against the wall.

"Yeah, well ya should have left note, I didn't know I was disobeying my jailers." He remarked lazily. "Why don't you shut that wall and let me get back to resting, before your big boss with the disco-ball get's mad."

"Frenzy, we need to talk to you." Optimus said softly, before Ratchet could cut in.

"Yeah, well that's too bad," Frenzy quipped souly, "Cause I'm not saying nothing." As if to prove his point he lay back down on the berth and turned so his back was facing them before adding "So you can kiss my shiny black skid plates."

"Frenzy, you're carrying." Ratchet said rather more sharply and loudly than Prime thought was necessary. The figure in the cell rolled over and sat up with short barking laugh.

"You figure that out all on your own Doc-bot? Or did you need to consult with my owner's manual? Because I gotta tell you, I don't go leaving that in my glove compartment."

"How.." Optimus began.

"You don't know?" Frenzy asked, really feeling on a roll now that the sarcasm was flowing, "Ya see Oppy, when two bots wanna frag each other very much…"

"Enough," Optimus rumbled, firmly but with a hint of infuriating sympathy. "I meant how do you want us to…" he paused, wanting to word this exactly right. "What do you want us to do about it?"

Frenzy walked up to the bars of his cell, trying to walk as straight and strong as he wanted to feel, and put his hands on his sides.

"Let me go."

Optimus sighed, "I'm afraid I can't do that Frenzy."

Frenzy barked out another short, pained, laugh and walked back to the recharging berth. "Then I don't care what you do." He rolled over and faced that infuriating orange wall. "Cuz, Soundwave and the others will come for me." He finished.

Optimus was silent as the wall of the cell closed, then he turned to Ratchet. "Do you think that the Decepticons will come for him?" He asked.

Ratchet shrugged, "They've never attempted to rescue a prisoner before, I don't see why they would start now."

Optimus began heading down the hall, side by side with the medic. "I'm not so sure." He said slowly, his processor replaying moments in battle when he'd seen Soundwave pause before retreating to give his cassettes a chance to reach him again. "I believe that Soundwave has some attachment to them. Though I don't expect they would try a direct assault, we should still be cautious."

Ratchet grunted an assent. "That's not really the issue here Prime, is it."

Prime sighed deeply, "No I suppose not." He stopped in the hall and turned to his medic, "What do you think I should do?"

Ratchet just shook his head, "Prime, you're gonna have to talk to First Aid on that one. I really expected that Frenzy was just going to tell me to terminate. I could handle that, reluctantly of course, but I could do it. But I haven't overseen a carrying, even of a regular sized 'bot, mech or femme, since the war started. It's just not my area." Ratchet looked grim. "I'll tell you this though Prime, the kid's already taking carrying hard, I'm not sure that he'll be able to handle it."

Prime nodded, grimly, "How long does Frenzy have to decide? Before he would need…more serious maintenance."

Ratchet shook his head again, feeling the war resting heavier on his shoulders than he'd felt it in a long time, Frag's sake, he thought to himself, he's just a kid…somebody should have been watching out for him. "I don't know enough to give you an exact date; you really need to call in First Aid. All I know Prime is that he doesn't have long."

As the cell grew dim again, the curled up Frenzy was shocked to find that he had been crossing his hands over his chest protectively. He slammed his arms down on either side of the berth with a clang, more than a little ashamed, and not wanting to examine why. The issue at hand was a yawning pit in his processor, and he had to work hard to keep himself from slipping into it. He kept bouncing his mind away, looking for something, anything, to distract him. He didn't want to talk about it. He didn't even want to think about it. He had avoided thinking about it ever since he'd figured things out. Well it was actually Rumble who had figured things out. Rumble had already been through this a couple'a times before. So he recognized it quick. Of course, before, Soundwave and Megs had Hook terminate... But this was Frenzy's first…

SLAG! Frenzy thought, and punched the wall, hard enough to make his hand hurt. Slaggit, don't think about it! There ain't nothing you can do, 'bout any of it. And you don't care anyway. The Decepticon Mini-cassette curled in on himself even tighter and tried his hardest to slip back into recharge despite the turning in his fuel tanks. He clamped his mouth shut against the urge to purge and silently cursed the Autobots for filling his tank with premium unfiltered geothermic energon. He wasn't used to the potent, heady stuff. He couldn't process the high levels of energy while filtering out the impurities fast enough and it was making his circuits fritz. Eventually he rolled off the berth and purged his tanks dry right into the drain in the floor. When his exhausted heaving stopped he rolled over, wishing the room wasn't quite so large, and the floor wasn't quite so cold. He was numb, and tired, and he had a hard time recharging without the soft thrumming of Soundwave's spark echoing in the crowded subspace inside Soundwave's chest.

It's so cold… on the floor…Frenzy thought in a weakened haze, but he couldn't find the energy to make it back to the berth. He was starting to wish that he'd managed to keep at least some of the energon down, as his overtaxed circuits started to ache from lack of it. Frenzy was disoriented enough by the time he slipped into a fitful recharge under the berth that he didn't notice his hands curled protectively over his chest, right where he could feel the tiny spark pulsing faintly against his own.

Frenzy awoke to warm, metal hands jostling him, and he had to fight the urge to scream. He was too weak with hunger to do more to express his distaste at being manhandled back onto the berth than by flashing an appallingly rude gesture he'd learned from humans. His optics weren't even registering color anymore, and the blinding flash of the cell's lights being turned up stunned the circuits into uselessness.

"Take it easy. Take it easy." A soothing, chipper voice that Frenzy took an instant disliking to, crooned, as the Cassetticon was vaguely aware of diagnostics being taken. "You're only a few volts short of stasis lock, so take it easy." Frenzy felt a rush of panic when he felt those same warm metal hands gently pry his chassis open, and he shifted nervously. "Try to relax," the voice reassured, "This may not be pleasant, but I have to bypass the stasis lock failsafe." Frenzy was too disoriented and exhausted to do more than register the dull jabbing pain of electrodes being clamped on either end of his outer spark casing. He felt a sudden flood of energy through his circuits and his optic sensors finally rebooted, allowing him to see the other robot clearly.

He didn't recognize him, but Frenzy did recognize the big red Autobot logo on his chest. The 'Bot continued to take readings, and run scanners over the Decepticon. Frenzy felt the electrical energy pulse through his systems. His arms and legs tingled dully with it, not registering sensation correctly. It was only a jump start, something to keep his systems online, and he was still exhausted. Finally the Autobot looked him in the visor.

"Coming around a little I see." He said, "That's good. Your tanks were completely empty. You're lucky you didn't slip into stasis lock before I got here." He reached into a large container set up by the berth that hadn't been in the room when Frenzy passed out. "I'm going to put you on an energon line of a formula diluted with inert carborundum. That should ease your circuits back into functioning without overloading them. I don't want to give your tanks anything to process until they're being a little less sluggish." Frenzy just stared at the wall blankly, away from the working Autobot and away from his opened chest. Now that he was processing better he cared less and less about whatever it was the stupid faceless Autobot was doing.

After setting up the fuel line the Autobot reached back into his container, and came out with what looked like a modified medi-scanner. He tried to catch the Decepticon's eye, but Frenzy wouldn't look at him. "My name is First Aid." His voice was both friendly and gentle in a way that was driving Frenzy up the wall. "And you're Frenzy. I don't think we've met before, but I've heard a lot about you." There was the barest hint of irony in First Aid's voice, and Frenzy finally turned his head to try and confirm it. The Autobot's face, which was nothing more than a mouthplate and an optic band, was inscrutable. First Aid continued, "Now, if it's alright with you Frenzy, I would like to do a scan of your spark casing. See how things are in there."

Frenzy snorted, "sshwhy ya'wan' do 't'at?" he muttered, still feeling groggy.

First Aid was already taking the scans, apparently not really caring if it was alright with Frenzy. "Just want to get some readings." He explained. "The more information we have, the better we can treat you, and the sooner you'll start to feel better." Frenzy grunted as First Aid opened his outer spark casing, giving him a better look at the laser core and what was inside. The Autobot fell silent as he continued his scans, which went on for so long that Frenzy almost slipped back into recharge.

"Well," First Aid began as he gently closed Frenzy back up, "You have a strong, closely knit, sparkling growing in there. Three weeks old, at least, with a protoform superstructure already forming. No wonder you've been feeling sick, your cosmetron must be producing nanites like crazy to build it, and it's still very closely attached to the inside of your spark chamber."

Most of what First Aid had said Frenzy was in no state to absorb, and he really couldn't decide if he wanted any of this information anyway, so he stayed silent. The Autobot doctor busied himself with the contents of his container, allowing the Cassetticon a moment to think, or to avoid thinking, before beginning again. "As the protoform develops, a laser core and spark chamber will form around the new spark, and it will begin to be fed with umbilical lines. This will make it much more…complicated, to terminate." Frenzy couldn't look at the Autobot doctor, and he didn't answer, already pretending in his own way that no one was there. Frist Aid seemed to realize this, but continued, "If you want to terminate, Frenzy, you must decide in the next few days."

"It dosen' matter," Frenzy spat out sluggishly, "Soundwave an' the others will come for me."

First Aid waited a moment, before continuing on as before, "If you wish to continue, then adjustments will need to be made. Because of your size carrying won't be easy for you, and I make no guarantees about the outcome. I've never delivered from anyone smaller than a compact car. Microsized 'Bot's can lose their sparklings if they develop too small and fragile. But I still think there is a good chance of a positive outcome, if we work together." Frenzy was silent. His hand on his chest.

"I'll give you some time to think it over." The Autobot Medic said softly, before leaving the room with his container.